David Lennon: Yankees suddenly rolling, even without Aaron Judge
Yankees' George Lombard Jr. and Anthony Volpe celebrate after defeating the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of their Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
To fully grasp what’s going on with the Yankees right now, look no further than a discarded New Jersey shortstop who somehow found himself in Wednesday night’s celebratory clubhouse, drenched head to toe, as champagne sprayed around him.
We were never supposed to see Anthony Volpe again. When the Yankees swapped one can’t-miss prospect for another by promoting George Lombard Jr. and demoting Volpe in early August, that figured to be the end of this pinstriped No. 11 in the Bronx.
But as fate would have it, Jazz Chisholm Jr. sprained a thumb and Volpe was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in early September. On Tuesday, the Yankee Stadium crowd was back on his side, cheering loudly when Volpe was introduced as the starting second baseman for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, and he singled in his first at-bat as the Yankees scored their first run en route to a 9-0 victory.
As Volpe stood off to the side Wednesday night, literally soaking it all in, I asked him how it felt to be in this exact spot again after his baseball world went sideways earlier this season.
“We have a great opportunity,” he said. “It’s not about any individual. It’s all hands on deck. You just want to be a part of this type of team.”
What’s amazing is that it took Aaron Judge to not be a part of the team in order for the Yankees to become this version of themselves, the pinstriped collective that embarrassed the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series sweep. And we’re not just talking about his being left off the roster for the first round.
If Judge never winds up on the injured list with the fractured rib, does Spencer Jones ever get the chance to finally shine on the big-league stage? Or is he dealt at the trade deadline?
With a functioning Judge — and a healthy Giancarlo Stanton — figure that general manager Brian Cashman never would have felt compelled to acquire Luis Garcia Jr., who stung Red Sox starter Sonny Gray with his fourth-inning homer in Wednesday night’s 9-2 rout.
Speaking of the deadline, Cashman also avoided the temptation (and public pressure) to trade for Austin Wells’ replacement with the suddenly glove-first catcher hitting .161 with a .537 OPS on Aug. 3. Just under two months later, Wells went 3-for-6 with four RBIs in the Wild Card Series and was the Sherpa for the two brilliant starting performances by Cam Schlittler and Max Fried.
Just go down the list. The Yankees took 16 position players for the wild-card round and used everyone in the two games but Stanton — who might have been merely a decoy — and backup catcher Ali Sanchez. As far as the calculated risk of taking only 10 pitchers, manager Aaron Boone had to use only seven, with minimal exertion from his high-leverage arms.
Every button that Boone pushed worked as designed, thanks to a versatile roster capable of performing any necessary task.
Jones actually sparked the Yankees’ six-run sixth inning in Game 2 by striking out on a nasty slider from Garrett Crochet. When the pitch in the dirt bounced a few feet away from catcher Adley Rutschman, instead of giving himself up to be tagged or merely jogging toward first, Jones hustled and barely beat Rutschman's throw. He stole second and raced to third when Rutschman — whom Cashman passed on acquiring in a blockbuster trade when the asking price was too high — threw the ball into centerfield. Lombard followed with an RBI single to center.
“We just got to keep sticking together and keep rolling,” Lombard said.
The Yankees' only notable mistake of the entire series was a Game 2 defensive lapse by Trent Grisham, who made his first start in centerfield in a month after returning from a hamstring strain. Grisham is notorious for switching into cruise control on fly balls, and the Red Sox were well aware of that as Nate Eaton turned a catchable 70-mph bloop into a one-out hustle double (helped by Grisham’s lackluster attempt at a throw).
Fortunately for Grisham, Fried got the next two outs with zero damage, and he later redeemed himself with a nifty bunt for a hit that loaded the bases for Wells' sacrifice fly.
That’s the kind of series it was for Boone. Even the moves that could have backfired ultimately turned into a positive, thanks to a roster potentially finding its groove at the perfect time even with Judge watching the wild-card round from the dugout.
“I like the balance of our club right now,” Boone said. “We played great baseball in a lot of ways here, obviously anchored by our two great starters that got us off on a great foot. But a lot of really good things happened with this group. We get a chance to keep it going.”
Did the Red Sox play a starring role in their own demise? Sure. The players lined up in the losing clubhouse Wednesday night to take swings at Chad Tracy as if he were a postgame pinata, blaming the rookie manager for lifting starters Gray (70 pitches) and Payton Tolle (83) rather than riding their aces with 1-0 deficits that soon multiplied after their exits.
Credit the Yankees, however, for taking advantage. Tracy replaced his starter with lefty reliever Erik Miller twice and was burned both times by lefthanded hitters: Ben Rice’s solo homer in Game 1 and Cody Bellinger’s RBI single in Game 2.
The latter episode could have been even more damaging if not for a bad send by third base coach Luis Rojas, who waved around the slow-footed Rice to his doom on Garcia’s hard-hit single to shallow left.
By late Wednesday night, that blunder was a mere footnote, rinsed away in the puddles of champagne and beer.
The task gets much tougher now against the Rays at Tropicana Field, but the Yankees couldn’t be playing much better. And that goes for all of them.
“I think it’s some of the best baseball I’ve been a part of since I’ve been here,” said Volpe, who was the starting shortstop for the 2024 World Series team. “It’s just a matter of us executing.”
And at this point, the Yankees seem to have the right guys for the job.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
